Chapter 231: Let Them Enjoy for a While

Chapter 231: Let Them Enjoy for a While

Fortunately, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book did not have a feature for negative reviews. Otherwise, most of the average Magic Weapon Summoners would definitely have given it a thumbs down. Couldn’t it be more user-friendly? Why make it so difficult? Was it to push them to level up faster?

If the difficulty of leveling up hadn’t slowly increased along with the growing number of Magic Weapon Summoners, would you believe that a whole crowd of high-level Magic Weapon Users would emerge to scare you to death? Of course, along with negative reviews, there were also positive ones. For example, those righteous individuals, especially the power ful ones, often wondered why there were only high-level evil-type Magic Arms and no opposing ones. This oddity had its origins.

Among the Intermediate Magic Weapons, there were opposing pairs. This meant the creator of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book didn’t care about the alignment of the Magic Arms. Now that a new Magic Weapon had appeared, it immediately caught their attention and even made them want to give a positive review.

But why did it have to be a hammer? Although the hammer’s effects were quite good, its popularity would still be much lower. If it had been a sword-type weapon, that would have been a different story. Those interested in this Magic Weapon immediately summoned it for a first try.

As for its initial power being slightly weak, they didn’t mind. Anyone who had reached the level of an Advanced Magic Weapon User had a good understanding of Magic Arms. These weapons could grow stronger. The former Basic Magic Weapons now each had power comparable to Low-level Magic Weapons, while Low-level Magic Weapons had power rivaling normal Intermediate Magic Weapons. Apart from lacking many special effects, they excelled in other aspects.

These Magic Arms had a high potential for growth. Of course, because of this growth, the summoning requirements would gradually increase. So, to use the Magic Weapon Summoning Book well, one had to constantly strive and improve. Otherwise, one might wake up one day to find they had been downgraded. Most Magic Weapon Summoners thought this was a good thing.

No one wished for their weapon to be less powerful or less excellent. The so-called increase in difficulty didn’t mean the power of the Magic Weapon they summoned decreased. Rather, their current proficiency proportionally dropped as the weapon’s power increased. The power of the Magic Weapon they summoned remained the same.

So, although the Holy Spirit Hammer’s power was currently the weakest among the three high-level Magic Arms, because it was a High-Level Magic Weapon, its growth speed was incomparable to that of Intermediate Magic Weapons. Its power would quickly rise. Those Magic Weapon Summoners with high perception accuracy noticed that after resummoning the Holy Spirit Hammer, their summoning proficiency had dropped a bit. This meant the Holy Spirit Hammer’s strength had increased!

Zheng Yichen was the happiest about this situation. The spell “Power Concentration” within the Holy Spirit Hammer greatly enhanced one’s own power output. Of course, the consequence of this enhancement was the loss of wide-area effects. However, the highly concentrated power in a small area could unleash greater destructive force. One hammer strike could achieve the effect of three strikes from others. Such an upgrade truly lived up to the spikes on its hammerhead.

This was an extremely violent weapon. Even auxiliary Professionals who wielded it would find that their support magic could be affected by Power Concentration. They would lose the ability to aid others and could only affect themselves. But it would extremely strengthen the effects of their support magic, making it unleash higher multiplier effects. A group spell turning into a single-target one, with power compressed, would naturally be incredibly strong!

The reason other spells could be affected by Power Concentration was mainly because of Zheng Yichen’s power characteristic. Without his Assimilation Ability, ordinary Power Concentration would only cause other spells to explode.

So, if those auxiliary Professionals also had sufficiently high Mana Capacity, wielding the Holy Spirit Hammer could allow them to exert power comparable to or even surpassing that of Warriors. Of course, their technique would undoubtedly be lacking.

Just imagine, the most targeted auxiliary Professional in a fight, when an assassin got close, suddenly pulled out a hammer and turned into a violent maniac, swinging it and sending the baffled attacker flying into the sky like a little star. That scene would be unbelievably beautiful.

Such an effect was, of course, noted by Zheng Yichen in the pages recording the Holy Spirit Hammer. After all, there were many common understandings of magic in this world, and few could actively break conventions. Therefore, an extra reminder was completely necessary, lest it take too long for anyone to discover the true way to use the Holy Spirit Hammer’s Power Concentration effect.

Even if someone discovered it, they probably wouldn’t publicize it widely. That wouldn’t benefit Zheng Yichen. How could a Magic Weapon without attractive features get more people to choose it? So, some features didn’t need to be hidden; if they could be shown, they should be shown immediately. Only then would those interested keep trying to use it.

Just as Zheng Yichen had designed, after the Power Concentration effect of the Holy Spirit Hammer was made public, those auxiliary Spellcasters were overjoyed, grinning from ear to ear. Auxiliary types had always been in great danger. What was the most annoying thing in a fight? Not just the MT blocking at the front, preventing continuous action, but also the auxiliary in the backline being protected. The MT got injured, and the auxiliary tossed a strong heal. All that hard work was for nothing.

The DPS got tired? The auxiliary tossed a strong recovery. Fine, they were immediately back in fighting spirit. Not enough damage? Find an auxiliary! Not enough defense? Did you think the auxiliary didn’t exist?

Not enough logistics? Some auxiliary Spellcasters specializing in natural magic said producing some food was easy. Auxiliaries were important and popular, but they also faced the highest risk. Assassins loved targeting them, especially when the frontline and DPS were fighting fiercely. Who knew when an enemy assassin might slip to the backline and pick off the auxiliary?

What about the auxiliary’s protection? Did you think the Battle Qi that mainstream assassins cultivated was fake? Under close-range Battle Qi explosive attacks, unless there was a huge level gap, how many hits could protection block? With an assassin’s attack efficiency, they could launch at least ten strong attacks in just a few seconds. And the auxiliary? Even with protection, they might tough it out for a few seconds, but lacking effective counterattacks, once their shield broke, they’d be instantly killed.

But now, when some powerful auxiliary Spellcasters learned about the Holy Spirit Hammer’s effects from friends or other channels, they were initially skeptical. After all, they knew the Power Concentration spell, and many could even cast it. But that only concentrated Mana that wasn’t released as a spell. A Power Concentration that worked on magic too?

Weren’t they afraid of blowing themselves up?

But once this news was confirmed, those skeptical auxiliary Spellcasters couldn’t sit still. Holy crap, it really worked! Some who had previously been uninterested in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book immediately pulled strings to get someone to make a Magic Weapon Contract for them and prepared to sprint in a short time, reaching the conditions to use High-Level Magic Weapons as quickly as possible.

Most couldn’t do this, but well-known veteran powerhouses could. Even if they couldn’t, after seeing an auxiliary Spellcaster of their type wielding a glowing hammer and smashing away a Warrior of the same level, they felt full of hope for the future. Who said auxiliaries had no damage output?

Come on, come over and take a hit from Daddy’s hammer first!

“So, I originally intended to make a representative weapon of the Holy Element, but I ended up creating a bunch of crazy healers?” Zheng Yichen looked at the recent information he had collected, feeling a bit dumbfounded. Where did this information come from? He bought it from Qin, of course. Qin, who had opened who knows how many chain stores, was extremely capable at gathering intelligence.

“…Hmm, with auxiliaries becoming powerful, the assassins who used to love targeting their backsides are going to cry. Hmm, should I research a relevant Magic Weapon to compensate them?” Zheng Yichen scratched his chin, pondering, then tapped his palm. He found a small note and wrote down this idea. Just kidding, this dragon had just made an update. There were other things to attend to now. What did it matter to him if assassins suffered?

He would put this matter aside for a while. Let them cry for some time. After they suffered enough, he would then create a new Magic Weapon. By then, the long-oppressed assassins would surely show great enthusiasm. For now, let those auxiliary Spellcasters enjoy themselves for a while.

If they just became the top of the version and got heavily nerfed immediately, what about the sales…cough, what about the Mana income?

They had to be allowed to have their fun for a while, right? You had to know, auxiliary Spellcasters, to ensure their support efficiency and endurance were sufficient, generally had much higher Mana Capacity than other Spellcasters. After all, even in small-scale battles, auxiliary Spellcasters had to support several people. If their Mana wasn’t enough, they’d find their MP drained before supporting even one or two teammates. Who would that be trying to screw over?

So, for such a major source of Mana income, Zheng Yichen wouldn’t touch it for now. Considering the Magic Weapon for assassins, Zheng Yichen thought it over and decided, forget it. Anyway, if auxiliary Professionals experienced some early enjoyment followed by later misery, it had no direct connection to him.

Their support couldn’t reach him anyway.

“Hmm… let me see.” He put away the small note and took out a plan sheet. The “Mana Enhancement Potion” item was checked off, indicating the research was temporarily completed with no further improvements needed. The “Coating Magic Potion and Inferior Demonic Metal” item was also checked off.

New-type Disguise Skin: Incomplete. Power Core: Researching. High-precision Mana usage… Learning and experiencing…

“Let’s start with the new-type Disguise Skin.” Zheng Yichen nodded and circled this item on the plan. The next step was to focus on researching this. The reason Zheng Yichen’s previous Alchemical Avatars were often exposed was due to some Detection Magic. Even though Zheng Yichen had maximally replicated human characteristics in those Alchemical Puppets, with breathing and heartbeat all present, some inherent factors still couldn’t be changed.

Zheng Yichen couldn’t create the undead body that Loris made using magic. Although that thing had stronger concealment, if encountered by sufficiently powerful individuals, it was actually easier to expose, because it was an Undead body, different from a living body. A disguise was still a disguise.

Zheng Yichen had ideas about developing something like a biochemical body, but currently lacked the technology. Using forbidden Alchemy studies would require a lot of time and practice; it wasn’t feasible for now. So, he could only start from the basics. Not talking about the internals, he would start with the skin. If the skin was good and had sufficient isolation, the disguise wouldn’t be bad.

“Is this thing what I’ll be using in the future?” Over half a month later, Lily looked somewhat apprehensively at a piece of ‘skin’ curled up inside a Culture Tank, soaking in liquid. Zheng Yichen had said before he would create something to perfectly conceal her appearance. But now, seeing the real thing, she felt a bit uneasy. It looked somewhat terrifying, especially the slight wriggling tiny flesh buds inside the skin layer. That layer was meant to be applied to her body!

“This is the most perfect disguise I can achieve.” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue and said. The biggest feature of this Simulated Skin was its lack of Mana emission. If it had Mana characteristics, when encountering some Detection Magic, one could subtly detect the difference between the skin’s Mana and the user’s own. The consequence of such a difference would naturally be exposure.

If your skin’s Mana differed so much from your body’s, anyone with a brain could tell it was fake, right?

The lack of Mana emission minimized the possibility of being discovered in this aspect. Additionally, it had a skin contact assimilation feature. What was in the Culture Tank now was the original, unpolluted version. Once used by someone, it would achieve a binding effect. Its main characteristics would become similar to the user’s skin properties, though not completely identical.

Zheng Yichen scoffed at that minor difference… Just kidding, this world didn’t have DNA testing. Who would bother spending great effort to investigate from such a microscopic level? Especially from a little girl? Were they that bored?

So, this aspect was also secure. As for the material source, Zheng Yichen had found a record in the Library of a special Magical Beast, similar to a chameleon. The difference was, this Otherworld version of the ‘chameleon’ could not only synchronize its color with the environment but also synchronize its skin properties with whatever it touched… When using Detection Magic, if it was touching a piece of wood, the detection result would be a ‘piece of wood’. The lack of Mana emission was also one of its characteristics!

It was easy to imagine how difficult this thing was to find. To find it, Zheng Yichen even gave up a portion of the sales share of the Mana Enhancement Potion to Qin. Business was business, and relationships were relationships. Qin insisted on following procedures in this regard, and Zheng Yichen had no objections.

Spending a high price to raise an extremely rare special Magical Beast wasn’t a bad thing. Right, Zheng Yichen couldn’t bear to just kill that chameleon Magical Beast. Of course, he wanted to extract some skin and use Magic Potions and Alchemy to cultivate and research it. However, Zheng Yichen’s cultivation techniques weren’t fully developed yet. This cultivated Simulated Disguise Skin was a degraded version.

Of course, it retained the features of no Mana emission and contact assimilation. The no Mana emission part was self-explanatory. The degradation meant it lacked sealing properties. It wouldn’t emit Mana, but if the user had Mana, it would still emit through the Disguise Skin. The latter feature was degraded to the extreme; it could only achieve a ‘binding’ effect. The ability to assimilate with the color and properties of contacted objects? Gone!

But even this was quite good, meeting Zheng Yichen’s temporary satisfactory requirements. Given the current situation, even without these degraded effects, he would have had to weaken them somehow.